Cursed
by Violetwitch
Summary: Yay! My first fic! During Raz's first mission, he comes across a strange girl seeking help from the Psychonauts.. A little idea for the sequel. RazxLili!
1. New Recruit

Hey, all you people out there! I decided to stop reviewing so much and write my own fic. It's kind of my idea of what should happen in the sequel. So, here it is!

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts yet, but I'm planning on talking to Tim Schafer over the summer…okay, not really. Read, dammit!

Cursed

Chapter One: New Recruit

The streets of Garodi were silent that night. It was as though everyone felt that something was wrong, but they didn't know what. Even the wind seemed to feel it.

They were right. Something was wrong. A man had been kidnapped, and not just any man: He was Truman Zanotto, the grand head of the Psychonauts.

And if anyone had gone out and looked into the clear, dark sky, they would have seen a blue jet speeding over the landscape, coming to his rescue…

Inside this jet, there were six people. They all had different appearances and different personalities, but the one thing they had in common ran much deeper than similar-looking faces: They all had psychic powers, and they were on a mission to rescue their leader.

It was here that Raz's first mission as an official Psychonaut began.

Okay, that was really short, but before I write any more, I want to first see if people like my writing. So, once I get at least one review, I'll continue. But please, no flames. This is my first fic, so be nice, okay?


	2. Psychic Soldiers

Okay, since I got some reviews, I'm continuing this story. And don't worry, it's longer than the last chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts, or Double Fine, or Majesco, yada yada yada…

Chapter Two: Psychic Soldiers

One day, Raz had been a boy from the circus, learning to harness his psychic powers merely because of a technicality. And now here he was, a Psychonaut on his first real mission (Yeah, I know. I'm repeating myself.). This still hadn't quite sunken in as Raz stared out of the jet window with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Are you alright, darling?" The voice of agent Milla Vodello snapped Raz out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh…yeah, I'm fine." Raz wasn't really listening.

"Don't worry, Razputin." Sasha Nein said, appearing behind Milla. "You'll get used to it once we get to Psychonauts headquarters."

"And if you have any problems, you can always talk to us."

"It's okay. Really."

Raz may have been okay, but Lili sat alone in a corner of the jet, fingering her bracelet with a sad look on her face. Truman Zanotto, the head of the Psychonauts, was Lili's father.

"It's alright, darling." Milla said, walking over to Lili. "I'm sure we'll find your father soon."

"Yeah." Said Morceau Oleander. "Besides, even if he dies, I'm sure we can---_ouch!"_ Morry was cut off my Milla's TK hand giving him a sharp slap to the back of the head.

Sasha, however, had other things on his mind.

"Agent Cruller, have you been able to identify the kidnapper yet?" He was addressing Ford Cruller, an old man with a giant crystal strapped to his back.

"Nothing yet, but I think…" Ford trailed off, then looked around wildly. "Hey, who are you people?" he said, "And what did you do with my rake?" He walked off, babbling about going into the forest where you don't belong. Sasha sighed and shook his head.

Raz walked over and sat down quietly beside Lili. Lili continued playing with her bracelet without even looking up.

"Come on, Lili." Raz said. "Cheer up. If we can save an entire camp from mutated lungfishes and insane dentists, I'm sure we can save your dad." Lili finally looked up and stared into Raz's emerald eyes.

"Who's 'we'?" Lili said. "You did all the work last time. All I did was sit in a metal chair and wait to be rescued."

"Yeah, well…this is your chance to change that. You can help us."

"Shockingly, you're not making me feel any better." Lili got up and went to find another dark corner to sit in, leaving Raz feeling slightly rejected.

But neither Raz nor Lili had time to dwell on this, because Milla said,

"Come on off the jet, children. We're at Psychonauts headquarters.


	3. Temporary Leader

Uh…hi. I don't have any homework right now, so I just thought I'd update.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts. If I did, I'd be working on the sequel game, not writing this.

Chapter Three: Temporary Leader

Raz stepped off the jet, with Lili trailing behind. And then he saw the Psychonauts headquarters for the first time.

It was like a much larger version of the Geodesic Psychoisolation Chamber, a place that Raz had visited many times before.

"Here we are, children." Milla said brightly, "Psychonauts headquarters."

"My God…" Ford said under his breath, "It's been such a long time since I was last here. Do you think the Psychonauts will let me in?"

"Of course they will, darling," said Milla, "You make them sound like a bunch of uptight old tyrants."

"They kind of are…" said Morry, more to himself than to anyone else.

"You should watch what you say around here, Agent Oleander." Said a cold voice behind Raz. He turned and saw a tall, thin man glaring at Morry. The man seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, "You could be decommissioned."

"Uh…beg your pardon, Agent Walker." Said Morry, "I meant no disrespect." Raz could hardly believe that Morry seemed quite afraid of this man.

Agent Walker had short dark hair, deathly pale skin, and a thin, angry line of a mouth. He was dressed in the traditional Psychonauts uniform, similar to the one Raz wore. But the one thing about him that seemed frightening were his eyes: They were jet-black, and glared like a basilisk.

"Who…who's that?" Raz whispered to Milla.

"That's Agent Adrian Walker, one of Truman Zanotto's most trusted agents. Now that Truman is gone, he's the temporary leader." Walker turned his attention to Raz.

"And who is this…_child?"_ he seemed to spit out that last word. "And why is he wearing that uniform?"

"This is Razputin Aquato, sir. He has proved himself worthy of becoming a Psychonaut." Sasha stepped forward, and although his voice seemed confident, Raz could see that his knees shook slightly. _I don't get it_ Raz said to himself, _why is everyone so afraid of this guy?_

"What was that, boy?" Walker snapped. Raz was slightly surprised; no one had been able to read his mind. _Ever._

"Uh…I didn't say anything, sir." Walker just looked at him like he was pond scum, and then turned on Ford.

"And what, may I ask, are _you_ doing here? You were decommissioned years ago, due to insanity." He said, quite rudely.

Ford straightened up. He was the only one who didn't seem daunted by Walker.

"I'm not crazy anymore, Walker. Well, not until recently." He gestured to the Psitanium on his back. "And what gives you the authority to speak to me like that?" Walker smirked horribly.

"The authority as temporary head of the Psychonauts, that's what."

"Well, _sir,_" Ford said heatedly, "might I remind you that you are speaking to a former _permanent_ head of the Psychonauts. Hell, I was leader before you could even levitate." Walker didn't seem to have been prepared for this response, but he quickly regained his poise.

"If you weren't already written off as a loon, you'd be fired for such impudence."

Ford opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by the huge metal doors of the headquarters sliding open. A woman with short dark hair stepped out.

"What's going on out here?" she levitated over to the spot at the gate where Ford and Walker were arguing.

"Oh…nothing, Agent Walker. Said Milla. Raz froze. Agent_ Walker?_

"I wish I could believe that." She said simply. "Really, must we argue right at this moment? Our leader has been kidnapped, and we'll need all the help we can get to find him." She looked at Walker, "Honestly, Adrian, you're letting this power go to your head. Now, let's go inside." She floated back over to the door, beckoning for the others to follow.

"Her name is Walker, too?" Raz asked Sasha.

"Yes." Said Sasha, "Agent Ivy Walker. She's Adrian's twin sister. Normally, the Psychonauts have a rule against families in the same division, but those two make such a powerful team that they allowed it. Well, we should head in…"

The headquarters was much busier than Raz had expected. It was like some kind of factory. There were at least twenty people crowded around a giant computer screen, apparently looking at the list of suspects for Truman's kidnapping. Raz also saw several smaller hallways leading to various places, such as, "Training Course", "Archives", and "Dormitories'.

"Well, we have to go." Milla said, "We're needed in another region of headquarters. Sasha will show you around." Milla, Ford, Morry, Adrian, and Ivy started down another hallway, leaving Raz with Lili and Sasha. As Raz looked around, he saw that Lili was staring at the floor.

"Have you ever been here before?" Raz asked, in an attempt to take her mind off of that scene in the jet. For some reason, Lili didn't answer immediately.

"Yeah, my dad took me here when I was six. He said that someday I'd be the head of the Psychonauts."

"Wow. What else…?" Raz was cut off by a loud, siren-like sound. Red lights flashed throughout the headquarters.

"**Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"** blared a computer voice somewhere overhead. The computer screens that normally showed the list of suspects switched to some kind of security video. It showed a small, dark figure sneaking around somewhere.

"They're in the Head Office!" said Sasha. "Follow me, Razputin!" he started flying rapidly toward a stairway at the end of the hall, with Raz and Lili following in numb surprise.

The Head Office was more like a giant laboratory than an office. There were several computer screens on the walls, samples of psitanium under microscopes, and a variety of strange-looking machines. Oddly, the office was completely empty.

"It's been pretty quiet since Truman cleared out." Sasha said in response to Raz's expression, "Now, we need to find the intruder before they escape." In the blink of an eye, Sasha turned invisible. Raz and Lili followed suit.

"Split up." Sasha ordered, "If you find someone, use telekinesis on them." Sasha, Raz and Lili went into different directions, silently.

The search seemed to take forever, until Raz heard some kind of struggle going on at the other side of the lab. He dropped his invisibility and headed in the direction of the noise. He was greeted by the sight of Lili holding up someone with her TK hand.

"What is it?" said Sasha, rushing in, "Did you find them?"

"Oh, I found them, all right." Lili said, "Now we need to find out who this…_ow!"_ Lili dropped the figure as they used pyrokinesis on her hand.

Raz had expected to see some kind of rugged burgler, but as he looked at the intruder, he saw that it was a young girl, about his age. She wore tattered, faded black cargo pants, a black top, and black hiking boots. She wore strange, arm-warmer things. They were similar to Lili's fingerless gloves, except they went up to her elbow. Her dark hair was tied back in a ponytail, but some of it fell over her left eye. She didn't really look like a hardened criminal; on the contrary, she had a scared look in her eye.

"Okay, tell us one thing and no one gets hurt." Raz said, using his most intimidating voice, "_Who are you?"_

Ha ha! Cliffy! The story was kind of going at a slow rate, so I decided to make a looong chapter. Hope you like it! I'll be sure to update soon.


	4. My Name Is Onyx

Hi. My grade is going on a field trip tomorrow, so once again I have NO HOMEWORK! That's two updates in two days.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts, but I want Raz, Lili and Dogen for Christmas! Tim Schafer can keep the rest.

Chapter Four: My Name Is Onyx

"_Who are you?"_ The girl stood up, and her voice cracked slightly when she spoke.

"Please…" she said, "You have to help me…"

"Answer my question and maybe I'll help you." Raz pressed. The girl sighed.

"I'm looking for Truman Zanotto. I thought he'd be in here."

"Truman Zanotto has been kidnapped." Sasha said, stepping forward, "Why are you looking for him?"

"I'm a member of the Galochio family." She said quickly, "My name is Onyx, and…"

"The_ Galochios?"_ Sasha cut her off in disbelief.

"Who are they?" Raz asked.

"They're a very prestigious family of psychics. They went into hiding years ago. Someone had been hunting them down." Sasha looked at Onyx, "You have to tell us, where is the rest of your family? We could certainly use their help, and we haven't been able to track them down." Onyx's face fell, and she turned away from the German man.

"They're dead." She said sadly, "All of them. I'm the last surviving member." Raz had never met this girl before, but something about her seemed familiar…_Galochio_…he had heard that name before…

"They're _dead? _How?" Sasha seemed quite interested in this girl's family. Onyx turned to face him, and Raz could see that she was fighting back tears.

"They've been murdered." Her voice cracked, and a single tear slid down her cheek, "The killers said something about hunting down their leader next. That's why I wanted to see Truman."

"Wow…" Raz said, "Do you think the kidnapping could be connected to the murder?"

"Well, duh," Lili said, "we should probably tell Adrian about this…"

"Oh, that's just perfect." Adrian groaned, "My first day as head and I find out that the Galochios have been murdered." Raz, Lili, Sasha and Onyx found Adrian and the others in the Archives. Apparently, that was where Truman was last seen.

"Well, sir, what do you propose we do?" Sasha asked. Adrian gave him a look of pure hatred.

"What do I _propose?_ I propose that we forget it and focus on rescuing our leader." As he said this, Adrian didn't raise his voice once. His was more of a quiet anger, which, when he used it, was much scarier than loud anger. Ivy quickly covered for him.

"What my brother means is that rescuing Agent Zanotto is our top priority right now.   
We don't have time to worry about a murder."

"But I think the kidnappers are connected to my family's murder!" Onyx cut in. Everyone looked at her in surprise. Adrian's lip curled dangerously.

"And what, little girl, makes you say that?" he said venomously, "Do you have any proof?"

"_Proof?_ I heard the murderers say that they'd be hunting down the leader next! How's that for proof?"

"Not very good, I'd have to say. 'Leader' could mean anyone."

"Yeah, including you…" Onyx muttered under her breath. Adrian's lip curled even more.

"And what, may I ask, is that supposed to mean? You have no say in this. You're just a little girl coming to us with some pathetic sob story about how your precious family died…"

"_Shut up!"_ Onyx snapped unexpectedly. Adrian looked as though he were about to set her on fire.

Then, something strange happened. Adrian's look of hatred faded, and turned instead to a look of…_fear?_ His face turned even paler than usual, and he slowly started back away.

"No…" he muttered, "What are you…?" he seemed to be staring at something behind Onyx, but as Raz looked, there was nothing there. Raz was considering using clairvoyance when Adrian fainted dead away.

Everyone turned to stare at Onyx.

"Um…why is everyone looking at me like that…?"

After Adrian had been revived, he seemed ready to tell someone off again. But when he caught sight of Onyx, his eyes widened ever so slightly. He agreed to let Onyx stay at headquarters, as long as she didn't bring out the screamers again…whatever that meant.

Raz, Lili and Onyx headed up to the dormitories to find their rooms. Finally, they found suitable ones.

After Lili had gone to sleep, Raz crept into Onyx's room. He found her sitting in a metal chair by a wall-length window. He sat down without a word.

"What is it?" Onyx said finally, when it became clear that Raz wasn't going to talk.

"I want to know what happened down in the Archives." Raz said, "I know you did something to Adrian." Onyx was silent for a moment, as though debating whether to answer him or not. Finally, she said,

"It's called a Brain Illusion (Yeah, I know. Lame name.) It's a type of astral projection that makes someone believe they're living their worst fear."

"Wow…that's awesome. Could you teach that to me?"

"Uh…maybe when I know you better." She responded, "I'm only supposed to teach it to people I really trust. It's an ability known only to the Galochios."

"I know this sounds weird, but I feel like I've heard that name before." Raz said, "Galochio…Wait a minute. I remember. The Galochios were…"

"…the ones who cursed your family." Onyx finished for him. For several long moments, there was only silence…

Ehh…not sure how I feel about this chapter. I was kind of sugar-high when I wrote it. I hope it's okay. Review please. Oh, and just so we're clear, I am _not_ planning on Raz and Onyx getting together…unless any reviewers think otherwise…No flames, please!


	5. Impossible Friendship

Ugh…there's some kind of error in sending my next chapter, so I don't know when this will show up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts…yet.

Chapter Five: Impossible Friendship

Finally, Onyx broke the silence.

"No one really told me who you were, but for some reason I knew: You're Razputin Aquato, aren't you?" Raz nodded, but stayed silent. He wasn't normally the one to hold a grudge, but at that very moment he wanted nothing to do with this girl. She was a Galochio, a descendant of the gypsies who had killed Raz's grandparents, who had cursed them and all of their descendants to die in water. And yet here she was, sitting there like it was no big deal.

"You have to understand something, Raz." Onyx said, "I'm nothing like my grandparents. They taught the rest of my family to hate the Aquatos, that the Aquatos were scum. But I'd never actually met one, and I'm pretty sure nobody else in my family had either." Raz considered this for a moment. Maybe this girl was different…

"I don't see any use in fighting." Onyx continued, "So…maybe we could start a truce between our families?" She held out her hand. Raz hesitated for a moment.

"Okay," Raz said finally, "A truce." He shook her hand. "But I've always wondered something: Why are we enemies in the first place?" Onyx shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine. My parents refused to talk about it. Probably because they didn't really know themselves."

"Hey, if it's not being too rude…what happened to your family?" Onyx was silent. For a moment, Raz was afraid he had asked the wrong thing.

"I'm not really sure. I wasn't there when it happened.

"I was out near the forest practicing my telekinesis. I was heading back when I heard a scream coming from inside the house. When I got there, everyone was dead. There had been some kind of ambush. Then I saw two people standing in the middle of it all. I used invisibility to keep them from finding me. They said something about hunting down the leader next, and they teleported somewhere. But they left this behind." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a strange gold medallion. It was shaped like an eye with a small brain in the center.

"I tried contacting the rest of my family with clairvoyance, but I found out they were dead too. Then I remembered what the murderers had said. So I came here, looking for Truman Zanotto."

"Oh…" Raz said, "Listen, I'm sorry if I…"

"It's okay. It wasn't your fault."

"It's not just that. We're supposed to be enemies, but…"

"No, we're not." Onyx said, "I don't hate Aquatos at all…and I like you." And for the first time since Raz had met her, Onyx smiled. It was small, but a smile nonetheless.

"So…will you teach me that Brain Illusion now?" Onyx laughed.

"Nice try. Well…you're an acrobat, right?"

"Uh…yeah…" Raz wasn't sure where this conversation was going.

"Okay, then. I'll make you a deal: I'll teach you the Brain Illusion, if you teach me some acrobatics."

"Alright…are you sure?" Raz said, "Learning acrobatics might take a while…"

"I'm a fast learner." Onyx said, "Besides, the Brain Illusion might take a while, too." They both laughed a little. Then Raz thought of something.

"Hey, could I see that gold thing again?" Onyx handed him the medallion.

"Why do you need it?" Onyx asked curiously.

"We could use clairvoyance on it. Maybe we could find out where the murderers are." Onyx sighed and shook her head.

"God, I'm an idiot…why didn't I think of that?"

Raz focused on the medallion. The whole room seemed to be melting around him. Then, various landscapes started whizzing past him. It was as though he were flying at a ridiculously fast speed. He started going faster and faster, until there was a blinding light, and he was sitting by a fireplace.

"Have you found a good hiding place yet?" Raz said in a gravelly voice. He wasn't really there, of course. He was just looking through someone else's eyes.

"Yeah, we have." Said a high-pitched voice, "We hid him over by the docks, in the abandoned meat factory."

"Good," Raz said, "The boss will be pleased." Raz couldn't see the other man's face. It was hidden in shadow. But he couldn't keep his clairvoyance for much longer. Raz dropped it, and soon he was sitting in Onyx's room again.

"Find anything interesting?" Onyx said.

"Yeah, I did." Raz said, "We have to tell the others…"

The only reason I stopped here is because I don't know what to write next. Review please!


	6. Life Lessons

Hello…sorry I haven't updated in a while (two or three days is a long time for me). Finally, I thought of something for my new chapter! It came to me in a dream…

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Psychonauts, but that is why the evil copyright was invented.

Chapter Six: Life Lessons

"And you're saying that Agent Zanotto is hidden inside an abandoned meat factory?" Sasha inquired. Raz and Onyx nodded.

After waking up Lili, the two went around the headquarters, searching for the older agents. They found Milla, Sasha, Ford and Morry around the Dormitories. Adrian and Ivy were in the Head Office. Now they were all in the main hallway.

"I used clairvoyance on this." Raz pulled out the medallion. Adrian's usual glaring expression suddenly turned to a look of shock.

"_Where did you find that?"_ he snarled.

"The people who killed Onyx's family left it behind." Raz said.

"Why do you want to know?" Onyx said, "Do you recognize it?"

"No...I mean…yes." Adrian changed his mind in mid-sentence, "It's the symbol of…a very…notorious group of psychics."

"Really? Do they have some kind of name?"

"Not that I know of." Adrian seemed oddly patient with Onyx's questions, but Raz could see one of Adrian's temples throbbing, as though he were trying very hard to be polite. _Wow,_ Raz thought, _was the Brain Illusion really that scary?_

"Well, this is certainly some valuable information." Milla said, "We'll see if we can find anything, darling."

"Until then, you should probably train a bit," Morry said, "Toughen yourselves up. This mission might get ugly."

"And I'd like to hold on to that medallion, if you don't mind." Ivy said.

"Actually…Adrian snatched it out of Raz's hand before he could protest.

"Don't worry, you'll get it back," Ivy said, "We just need it for some…tests."

The next morning, Raz, Lili and Onyx were in the Training Grounds. Lili didn't really need training. She was just there for lack of anything better to do.

"That was better, but don't tilt too much to one side." Raz called up to Onyx. She was giving a very determined attempt to walk across a very high tightrope. She had fallen about five times before, but she was slowly gaining a sense of balance. After quite a lot of wobbling, she made it to the other side.

"Good job!" Raz said.

"Hey, that was fun! You wanna try, Lili?" Onyx called down.

"Uh…no, thanks." Lili seemed like she had something else on her mind, "Um… I think I'll just sit over here and watch."

"Suit yourself. Now, let's move on to the trapeze!"

"Hold on a minute!" Raz said, "I taught you a little bit of acrobatics. You have to hold up your end of the deal."

"Oh, fine." Onyx scowled, hopping down from the wire. "But first, I want you to try the Brain Illusion on your own."

"Um…I'll try." Raz said. He focused on Onyx, concentrating on her worst fear. Onyx suddenly put her hands over her eyes.

"Oh, I'm so scared!" she said, pretending to be frightened.

"What did you see?" Raz asked.

"You made me imagine that I was swimming in a vat of pudding."

"And…is that your worst fear?" Raz asked, with a kind of false hope.

"Not really. See, there's kind of a trick to the Brain Illusion. You don't really focus on _making_ them live their worst fear, you focus _on_ their worst fear."

"And…how do I find out what their worst fear is?" Lili scoffed from somewhere behind Raz.

"You're a Psychonaut. Use your imagination." Onyx sounded as though Raz had just asked which way was up, "Here, I'll show you. Just remember something, Raz: it's not real, no matter how much you think it is." Suddenly, Raz felt his entire body seize up. He found it very difficult to breathe. The world lost all color, except for one: a murky blue. He wasn't standing in the Training Grounds anymore…he was at the bottom of a lake. He tried to move, to go up to the surface. But he couldn't swim, and he couldn't breathe.

And then he saw it: a blue skeletal hand, reaching towards him, trying to pull him down, all the way down…

"Agh! _Stop!_" Raz suddenly hollered. The hand shrank back, and the world went colorful again. He was dry again, safe again.

"You see how powerful it is?" Onyx asked.

"Yeah. And…I'd prefer it if you didn't do that again."

"I figured as much. Now, try it on me." Raz focused on Onyx, trying to find out what her worst fear was.

A picture started forming in his head. It started out blurry, but as Raz deepened his projection into Onyx's mind, it became clearer and clearer, until Raz could just barely make it out.

Raz wasn't really sure what this picture meant, but he focused on it anyway.

"You got a picture?" Onyx asked. Raz nodded. "Okay, the next step is to…well, it's kind of complicated. You have to create your own Psycho portal into my mind."

"How do I do that?"

"You just imagine a tiny door on my head, and imagine that door opening. Just thinking about it works for this type of astral projection." Raz imagined the colorful little door he had once taken from Sasha's lab back at camp. He combined that memory with the image of Onyx, and suddenly he saw a faint rectangle on her forehead. The rectangle started glowing slightly. He had done it! He focused on the picture from before.

And then something odd happened. He saw a strange, black shape moving from him to the Psycho portal on Onyx's head. Onyx's eyes widened, and she put a hand to her forehead. She started backing away slightly. Then she shook her head several times, as though trying to get it out of her mind. The black shape flew out of the Psycho portal and faded away.

"Did you see it?" Raz asked, excited.

"Yeah, I saw it. But I was able to throw it off. Still, that was pretty good for a first try." Raz grinned. "Don't worry. I'm sure the projection will get stronger after a bit of practice."

"Thanks. I'll practice." Raz was ecstatic. He had done it!

"Well, I'm going down for some lunch. You coming?" Raz looked over at Lili, sitting by herself. His ecstasy was drowned out by a sudden rush of guilt.

"Uh…I'll be with you in a minute." Onyx seemed to recognize the look on Raz's face. Her smile vanished, and she nodded knowingly before walking out of the room, leaving Raz and Lili alone.

Raz sat down beside Lili, who was staring at the floor.

"Are you okay, Lili?" Raz knew by her expression that Lili wasn't okay, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"I'm fine." Lili said, still staring at the floor. Then, after a small pause, she said, "She really seems to like you."

"Yeah, that's because she's my friend." But Raz could tell that that wasn't all Lili was thinking about.

"Listen, Lili, I know something's been bothering you even before Onyx came along. Could you tell me what it is?"

Without warning, Lili threw her arms around Raz's neck and pulled him into a hug. Raz was stiff and shocked at first, but hugged her back after a few moments.

"I'm afraid I'll never see you again." Lili said, still holding on to Raz. When she let go, Raz could see tears in her eyes. "After this, you'll have no reason to stay with me. You'll go back to the circus, and I'll go back to school. We'll go our separate ways." Raz stared into Lili's eyes for a moment, then gave her a small, soft kiss.

"I'll never forget you." Raz said, brushing the tears from Lili's face, "Promise."

Ahh…so much fluff…I didn't feel like there was enough romance in the story, so I added that little scene. Let me know what you think of it. Oh, and just a little note: I've decided to take these fics one at a time, meaning I'm not writing anymore stories until I'm done with this one.


	7. Friendship And Suspicion

Waah…hey, readers. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I have been suffering from serious writer's block for the last week, and I'm even making this chapter up as I go along.

Disclaimer: I'll own Psychonauts eventually…just as soon as I mail these blackmailing photos of Tim Schafer….okay, I lied. I have no photos.

Chapter Seven: Friendship and Suspicion

Over the next week at Psychonauts headquarters, the atmosphere had changed considerably. Lili had cheered up quite a bit. She was back to her cynical old self…if you would consider that cheered up. She had even started training with Raz and Onyx.

Onyx had improved quite a bit in her acrobatics. She could run across a tightrope, catch a moving trapeze and even swing from bar to bar.

But the happiest of the three was Raz. Not only had he patched things up with Lili, he now almost mastered the Brain Illusion. Onyx and Lili were rarely able to throw it off.

He would have liked to continue his investigations on the kidnapping, but Ivy still hadn't given him the medallion back.

One afternoon Raz was heading down the hall to the Training Grounds. As he walked past the Head Office, he heard hushed voices coming from the slightly open door.

"I told you, I don't know how the boy found it." Raz recognized Adrian's voice.

"That's beside the point, Adrian!" snapped Ivy's voice, "I can't keep covering for you. Your big mouth is going to get us both found out!"

"I didn't want to do this in the first place." Adrian said, in a kind of quiet anger.

"It's too late for that. We're in too deep for you to just back out."

"I know, but…" Adrian trailed off, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Something outside…" Raz heard footsteps heading toward the door. He turned invisible just a split second before the door swung open. Ivy stepped out, swiveling her head around. Her eyes seemed to rest on Raz for a moment. Then she shook her head.

"There's nothing out here." She said, before closing the door.

Raz immediately headed down to the Training Grounds and reported what he had heard to Lili and Onyx.

"And you think they had something to do with the kidnapping?" Lili said.

"It would make sense," Onyx said, "They're Truman's most trusted agents. No one would ever suspect them." Raz nodded.

"Plus, didn't you say you saw two people attacked your family?" he inquired, "What did they look like?" Onyx shrugged.

"I don't know. They were wearing hoods, plus it was dark. Still, one of them kind of sounded like a woman."

"Yeah. And when I used clairvoyance on the medallion, one of the people I saw had a really high-pitched voice. I couldn't see their face, but it might have been Ivy."

'But they said, 'The boss will be pleased.'." Lili said, "I wonder who they were talking about?"

"I don't know," Raz said, "But we have to tell the other agents." Onyx shook her head.

"It won't do any good," she said, "You know Milla. And Sasha, and Morry, and Ford. They won't believe us unless we give them cold, hard proof. Plus, we're not even sure Adrian and Ivy are guilty of anything."

"Well, I say it's time we found out," Lili said, "And I think we should start by getting that medallion back…"

Wow…sorry if that was too short, but I'm out of ideas at the moment. I'm open for suggestions, if you want to write something in your reviews. I command you, review!


	8. Sneak Attack

Hello to anyone who's reading this. I'm slowly getting over my writer's block. It might be a bit shaky at first, but I've got the basic idea down.

FluffleNeCharka: Thanks for the advice on getting rid of writer's block. It really helped.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts. Maybe I should get a job as a video game tester…

Chapter Eight: Sneak Attack

"Agent Walker, you have to help us!" Onyx cried, bursting into the Head Office, "One of the pipes burst down in the Archives! There's water leaking everywhere!"

"I'm far too busy," Adrian said, not even looking up from his computer screen, "You can handle it on your own."

"But it's really…"

"No."

"We can't…"

"I said no."

"The entire floor is…"

"Now please leave my office." Onyx cursed under her breath and backed out of the room. Raz and Lili were waiting by the door.

"What happened?" Raz asked.

"It's no good trying to lure him out. He won't leave his office" Onyx replied.

"Then it's time for Plan B," Lili said, "We'll have to sneak in and find the medallion."

"Okay, I've got an idea," Raz said, "We'll use our invisibility and enter through three different doors. We can communicate telepathically, so each of us knows where the other two are. That way, we can still talk, and Adrian won't hear us. If we find the medallion, just grab it and go. Got it?"

"Got it." Onyx and Lili replied.

"Okay. Lili, you come in through the north entrance. Onyx, you go through the east. As for me, I'll come in through the west side."

"Right. Let's go."

Raz, Lili and Onyx split up, finding their correspondent entrances. They turned invisible, and the doors slid open silently. Thankfully, Adrian's eyes were too focused on the computer to notice. Raz tiptoed around the room, looking for anything suspicious.

'_Lili, Onyx, have you found anything yet?'_ Raz said…uh, _thought_…after a few minutes.

' _I got nothing.'_ Said Lili.

"_Nope,'_ Onyx said, _'but I think...ouch!'_ Raz heard a loud crash from somewhere across the room, _'Aw, hell!'_ Onyx cursed.

Adrian whipped around from his computer, looking around wildly.

"Who's there?" he called. He rushed towards the direction of the noise.

'_Onyx, what happened?'_ Raz heard Lili's voice say.

´_Some kind of weird security machine.' _ Onyx said, _'This thing with a huge claw. When I walked past it, it seemed to be…looking at me. All of the sudden, it hit me with its claw. I crashed into some microscopes.'_

Raz was just about to go find the other two when something glittering caught his eye. He paused and looked. There, inside a glass case, was the medallion.

'_Guys, I found it!'_ he thought triumphantly.

'_We don't have time!'_ Lili said, _'We have to go help Onyx!'_

"_Yeah, I need help over here!'_ Onyx cried frantically, _'I can't avoid Adrian for much longer.'_

Raz looked at the medallion for a moment. _It'll just take a second._ He thought to himself. He summoned his TK hand. Carefully, he flipped open the lid of the case.

Immediately, a loud siren sounded. The glass case must have had some kind alarm mechanism on it.

'_Raz, what did you do?'_ Lili said, _'Quit goofing aound. You're going to get us all caught!'_ Since the alarm had gone off anyway, Raz quickly reached into the case and pulled out the medallion.

'_Onyx, where are you now?'_ Raz asked.

'_I'm over by the computers,' _Onyx replied in a strained voice, _'but I think Adrian's figured out where I am.'_

Still invisible, Raz headed over to the giant screen that Adrian had been looking at earlier. The one mistake he made was that he started running. With very loud footsteps.

Adrian's head swiveled around in Raz's direction. Adrian must have guessed where he was, because he fired a bright orange Psi-blast. It hit Raz dead on. His vision blurred, and his world went dark…

When Raz came to, he was staring up at a dark ceiling. He sat up to see that he was in a small, dimly-lit room. It was like some kind of horse stable, and he was in one of the stalls. Raz looked around and saw that the stall's exit was blocked off by bars, bars that were glowing with a bright blue light. Raz's eyes turned to the far corner of the stall. There, on the ground, was Lili. She seemed to be breathing, but was otherwise motionless.

"Lili!" Raz hollered, rushing to her side. He dropped to his knees and shook her arm. She stirred, but didn't open her eyes. "Lili, wake up! Please wake up!" It was no good. Lili remained unconscious.

"Is she okay?" said a voice behind Raz. He turned to see Onyx on the other side of the stall. She must have just woken up, because she was slowly getting up from a sitting position, rubbing her head.

"No, she's not." Raz responded, still on his knees. Onyx walked over and sunk down beside him.

"What happened back there?"Onyx asked.

"I don't know. Adrian blasted me, and I got knocked out. But I'm not worried about that right now," Raz looked down at Lili again, "I'm worried about her. Look, she's not moving. I'm afraid she'll…"

"Hey," Onyx put a hand on Raz's shoulder, "don't say that. She's still breathing, isn't she? We've still got a chance."

Onyx put two fingers to her forehead, then another two to Lili's. Her face screwed up in concentration, and her hands started glowing with psychic energy. After a few moments, Lili stirred again, but this time her eyes fluttered open.

"A little trick my brother taught me." Onyx said, grinning. But Raz wasn't listening.

"Lili!" he exclaimed.

"Raz!" Lili sat up and hugged him. They would have stayed like that for a little longer, but after several long moments, Onyx cleared her throat.

"Um, excuse me, campers?" she said, "I hate to ruin the moment, but we have a mystery to solve? You can lock lips later."

"Oh, uh…right." Raz and Lili stood up, slightly embarrassed. Then Raz remembered something.

"Hey, guess what I got?" He reached into his backpack and pulled out the medallion, "We can use clairvoyance on this now." Raz was expecting to find some kind of dead giveaway as to where the murderers were, but when he used clairvoyance on the medallion, he saw something strange. The person whose eyes he was looking through seemed to be staring at a stall, blocked by glowing bars. Behind the bars were three children…themselves.

Raz dropped his clairvoyance and turned to see someone standing on the other side of the bars. It was Adrian, staring expressionlessly at them. Raz ran up to the bars and shook them.

"Adrian! So it _was_ you!" He growled. Adrian continued to stare at him, with no visible emotion.

"Let us out of here!" Onyx said, running up to the bars.

"I can't do that," Adrian said simply, "You three know far too much already."

"We don't know anything!" Lili said.

"Oh, yes you do. Much more than you realize, in fact. And I can't let you interfere with our plan."

"What plan?" Lili said. Adrian simply turned and walked out of the stable.

"Well, we can't just let him walk away like that!" Raz said, "We have to follow him!" Raz shook the bars again.

"It's no use," Onyx said quietly, "Those are mental bars. They're unbreakable, resistant to both psychic and physical attacks." She walked over to the bars and took hold of the lock, which was glowing just like the bars, "But I might know how to unlock this. My sister once told me something about these locks."

"Really?" Raz said, "How?"

"There was some kind of psychic power you had to use, something that would make the lock open."

"Well, what was it?" Lili asked impatiently. Onyx sunk to her knees, her eyes closed, as though trying hard to remember something. Finally, she sighed and said,

"I can't remember." Raz and Lili groaned. Then Raz thought of something.

"Hey, I've got an idea." Raz reached into his backpack and pulled what appeared to be a small door, "We could use this Psycho Portal to go into your mind. Maybe we could find out what power we need to open the lock." Onyx thought for a moment, then said,

"It's worth a try." Raz used TK to put the portal on her forehead. After a few seconds, the door opened, sucking Raz and Lili inside…

Ooh, what goes on in Onyx's head? You'll find out. Soon, I hope. And don't worry, the next chapter is where the action really starts. I'm trying really hard to add some romance, but so far nothing comes to mind. I already have this next part figured out, but I'll only continue when I get at least three more reviews. You all rock!


	9. Lost In The Woods

What's up readers? Uh…remember what I said about having this next part figured out? Yeah, that was kind of a…half-lie. I do have the scene figured out, but I haven't put it into exact words yet. I'm going to do that now. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own Psychonauts…in my mind…

Chapter Nine: Lost In The Woods

Raz looked around. _No,_ he thought, _this couldn't be Onyx's mind._ But it was.

Raz, Lili and Onyx were standing in…absolutely nothing. They were surrounded by blackness, inside a dark mind. A mind that didn't want to be looked through…a mind full of secrets.

"Okay, Onyx, what's the deal?" Lili said, turning to her, "I've known you long enough to know that you aren't empty-headed."

Onyx turned her eyes to Lili, an odd, pleading expression on her face.

"I'm sorry," she said, "This was a mistake. I shouldn't have brought you here. Please, can we leave?" Raz stepped forward.

"Onyx, whatever's in here, I'm sure we can handle it. Besides, we can't stop Adrian unless we find the way to open the lock. So, show us the way, huh?"

Onyx sighed, seeing there was no talking him out of it. She walked forward a few paces, seeming to be looking for something. After a few moments, she found what she was looking for. Onyx held up her hand and moved it in a swift, sweeping motion. The whole area seemed to light up. Raz saw that they were in a small, cramped room with stone walls. The only light source was a torch set into the wall. Basically, it was a claustrophobic's nightmare.

On each of the four walls, there was a heavy wooden door. Each door had strange carvings on it, kind of like illustrations.

"Each of these doors leads to a different region of my mind," Onyx said. She nodded towards one, "That's the one we want to go through." The door creaked open as she walked towards it, beckoning for Raz and Lili to follow…

A chilling wind swept past Raz as he stepped through the doorway. When the shadows cleared, he was standing at the edge of a forest. He looked up and saw the clear night sky, the moon full and glowing. And in the far distance, at the other end of forest, Raz could barely make out a large house, sitting on a hill.

"Hey Onyx…" Lili said, "That house over there, what is it?" Onyx was silent for a moment, then said,

"That's the Galochio mansion, where I grew up…and where my family was murdered. We'll have to go through the woods if we want to get there." And so, the three set off on their journey through the forest.

As they were walking, something came to Raz's mind.

"Hey, Onyx?" he said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what?"

"The Galochios…I thought they were a circus family, like mine. So what are you doing living in a mansion?" Onyx sighed.

"I don't really know. Yes, we used to be a circus family. But I guess the bloodline got a little thin after that whole thing with the Aquatos. We instead focused on our psychic powers, developing new abilities. The Brain Illusion is something we created."

The three continued walking in silence. As Raz looked at the trees, he saw that they grew in very odd shapes. For some reason, some of them were shaped roughly like animals and humans.

Then Raz heard something: a strange, snapping sound, as though someone had stepped on a twig. The snapping was followed by a rustling, creaking sound. It was as though something very large was moving around. Apparently, Lili heard it too.

"What was that?" She said, looking around.

"It's the trees," Onyx said simply, "They don't want us to reach the mansion. They're moving around, trying to confuse us. Whatever you do, don't stare at them for too long." To Raz, this seemed like a very strange warning. But as he passed it, Raz couldn't help but look at a particular tree.

This tree had a rather gruesome shape. It was shaped roughly like a human, just as the others were. But where its face should be, there was instead a gnarled, twisted mass of wood. It almost seemed like the tree was screaming in agony.

Onyx turned to see Raz staring at the tree.

"Raz!" she exclaimed, "Stop that! You're going to…" she was cut off by a horrible sound that pierced the night air. It was like a cross between a screech and a howl. Covering his ears, it took Raz a moment to realize that the sound was coming from the tree. Just as its expression showed, it was screaming.

And then it moved. It was slow at first, but as it gained a sense of movement, the tree could move its gnarled branches around like arms. Then, about halfway up the trunk, it split up the middle, like it had legs. The tree tore its roots from the ground, moving towards the three kids like some kind of grotesque giant.

"What is that thing!" Lili said, somewhere between disgust and fascination.

"It's a memory," Onyx said, "but that's not important right now. Brace yourselves."

Without warning, the tree-giant drew back its branch and swung it across the ground, aiming for the kids. Lili put up a shield, protecting herself, Raz, and Onyx.

"How are we supposed to beat it?" Raz said, just as the tree-giant swung its arm again.

"It's weak to fire," Onyx said, "Aim for its eyes."

"Right." Raz and Lili said together. Lili dropped the shield, and the three split up, moving in different directions. The tree-giant looked at the three children running around its roots. It seemed confused, as though it didn't know who to attack.

Raz saw this opportunity. He locked his mental focus on the spot he thought the tree-giant's eyes should be. He concentrated on heat, on fire. The tree-giant's face started smoking slightly. Suddenly, a blaze of fire lit up its entire head. It gave another howl, stumbling around blindly; it couldn't see.

But that didn't stop it. The creature gave a monstrous leap into the air. When it landed, the entire ground shook. The force of the landing knocked Raz off his feet. He landed on his back, dazed and unable to do anything.

Now it was Onyx's turn. Just as quickly as Raz had, she set the tree-giant's eyes on fire again. But what she didn't know was that Lili was planning on doing the same thing. She and Onyx set the creature on fire at the exact same time.

Their combined forces resulted in the tree-giant's entire body blazing with flames. It gave a final, agonizing screech, and crumbled to the ground, defeated. In a flash of red light, the tree-giant vanished.

Raz stood up, no longer dazed.

"Okay," he said, "What…the hell…was _that!"_

"I told you," Onyx sighed, "it's a memory. A memory I'd rather forget."

"So…I'm guessing you won't tell us about it?" Lili said. Onyx sighed and pointed to something behind Raz.

"Go break open that vault," she said, "It'll show you." Raz turned and saw a green little pig-type vault, prancing several yards away from him.

After catching up with it, Raz punched open the vault. With Lili standing right beside him, he lifted the film up to his eyes…

Lost (Flashback)

A little girl skipped into the forest happily, chasing a butterfly. She seemed not much older than four or five. Raz could see by her face that this girl was Onyx, at a younger age.

The butterfly fluttered into a bush, out of sight.

"Hey, Mr. Butterfly, don't leave!" Onyx said, a playful sadness in her voice. She giggled, going into the bush after the insect.

But the butterfly was nowhere to be found. When Onyx realized this, she gave a little pout and turned back towards her house. She turned around in little circles, trying to remember where she had come from. When she couldn't recognize where she was, Onyx's look of happiness slowly faded into a look of fear. She gave a little whimper, running in some random direction.

"Where am I?" she said to herself. She seemed to be becoming more and more panicked as time went by. She started running faster and faster, afraid she would never find her way out. When she was out of breath, she sunk against a tree, her back pressed to the trunk.

"Mommy, help me," she whimpered, her little chest heaving, "I'm lost and I want to get out."

A strange, rustling sound snapped Onyx out of her thoughts. She turned, crawling backwards away from the noise. She looked up and saw a large black bird sitting above her in the tree. It was a crow, but she didn't know that. She stared up at the crow fearfully. The crow spread its wings and cawed very loudly at her.

The noise startled Onyx. With a little yelp, she turned her head and held up her hands, as though to shield herself.

And then something strange happened. The bird's feathers started smoking slightly. With a surprised squawk, it burst into flames; Onyx had accidentally set it on fire.

But the flames didn't stop there. The fire spread from the bird to the branches of the tree it was sitting in. Within moments, the entire tree was on fire. And it didn't stop there, either. It spread to the tree next to it, and the next one, until there was a small forest fire going. The flames continued to spread. Terrified, Onyx looked around at the burning trees and screamed…

(End Flashback)

Raz put down the film, his heart pounding. He turned to Lili, who had read the memory with him. She seemed equally shocked.

"Well?" said Onyx's voice behind them. Raz and Lili turned to see her standing a few feet away, "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"There was a fire here?" Raz said, "How did you get out?" Onyx looked at him, a faraway look in her eyes.

"My brother saw the smoke through his window. He told my parents about it, and they got me out of there before anything happened.

"I knew about my powers at the time, but I didn't really understand how they worked. When you have psychic powers at a young age, they're triggered by emotions. And while this was going on, the crow was dying. It kept squawking, which gave me the impression that the tree was screaming." Onyx gave a shuddering sigh, almost a sob, and said, "Well, we better keep going if we want to reach the mansion in time…"

The journey from then on was pretty quiet. The three psychics were slowed down somewhat by the censors, but that was about it. That is, the journey _was_ quiet…until they reached a small clearing in the forest. There were several people standing in the clearing. Onyx suddenly stopped walking.

"Oh, no…" she said, mostly to herself, "Come on, could we go another way?"

"What is it?" Lili said.

"It's nothing…" Onyx said, "I just…I don't want to go this way…"

"Onyx, what's wrong?" Raz asked. Onyx sighed.

"Okay…it's another memory. Another one I don't want to relive."

"Which memory?" Onyx gave Raz a look of pure horror.

"The memory of my worst fear…"

(Dramatic music) DUN DUN DUN! And the plot thickens! Hope you liked this chapter. Once I get three more reviews, I'll continue. Once again, no flames, please! I meant for Onyx's worst fear to be revealed sooner, but I couldn't really figure out where to put it in. So…yeah.


	10. Losing Control

Hey, readers. I meant to update sooner, but it kept slipping my mind. Now…where was I? Umm…oh, yeah. Onyx's worst fear. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Raz, Lili, Dogen, Sasha, Morry….five minutes later...Doctor Loboto, Boyd, or Gloria. I think that's everyone…

Chapter Ten: Losing Control

"What is this?" Lili asked. There were at least twenty people in the clearing, standing in a large circle. Their attention was focused on two people in the center. One of them was Onyx. Oddly, nobody was moving. It was as though they were frozen in time.

"I guess I should tell you, then." Onyx sighed.

"Among all psychics, the Galochios are known for their brutal training. And as the youngest, I had to endure that training. My mornings were filled with combat practice, and my nights were filled with studying in the library. And when you're old enough, it's a family tradition that the heir has a psychic dual with the head of the family, to see if they learned enough. This is my memory of that dual. My opponent was my dad…well, it's pretty self-explanatory. Just watch." She moved a few paces forward, until she was standing at the edge of the clearing, with Raz and Lili right behind her. Now, they had a clear view of the dual.

Then, time started flowing for the memory. The people were moving, but they didn't move much. They all seemed to be holding their breath as they watched Onyx and her dad, standing a few yards apart from each other in the center. As Raz got a better look at her father, he saw that he was a tall, wiry man with a rugged, dark beard. He had an odd, steely glint in his eye, as though he had no intention of losing.

The Onyx in the memory seemed about the same age she was now. Raz guessed that this hadn't happened too long ago, maybe a few months. Onyx's face was set with a determined expression, and her fists were clenched at her sides. Although she seemed quite confident, Raz could see her knees shaking.

A girl of about sixteen stepped into the center.

"That's my sister," Onyx said, "She's the one who told me about the locks."

"Then can't we just go in and ask her?" Lili asked, although she already knew the answer.

"No," Onyx replied, "This is a memory. They can't see, hear, or feel us." Raz turned his attention towards the memory again.

"This is a no-holds barred dual." Her sister said, "Use anything you've learned. The match is over when someone is unable to continue." She stepped back into the circle and said, "On my count. One…two…_three!"_

Onyx's dad immediately fired a Psi-blast at her. Onyx repelled it with a shield.

"Oh, don't rush things." She said.

"Well, have to keep you on your toes." He smiled, but there was nothing warm or joking about it. It was a cold, taunting smile, as though he were challenging his daughter.

"Fine." Onyx pulled out a small, neon-green ball and fired it at her father. He stumbled, grasping his head with both hands; she had hit him with a confusion grenade. Seeing this opportunity, Onyx's face screwed up in concentration. The next thing, her dad was running around in circles, babbling about a pack of TK bears. But as the Brain Illusion wore off, Raz could see that Onyx's dad wasn't going to go easy on her.

The dual raged on for at least fifteen minutes. Onyx got in several good hits, but her dad was even tougher. He didn't seem to be getting tired at all. Onyx, on the other hand seemed to be getting more and more exhausted by the minute. Finally, after taking several brutal hits, she fell to her knees, defeated.

"Giving up already?" her father said, "I must admit, I'm disappointed. I expected better from you." His voice had an unpleasant, mocking tone to it.

"Expected better, or hoped for better?" Onyx said quietly. Her head was bowed, and she was staring at the ground as she said this.

"Well, hoped for, I suppose. Actually, I expected you to fail." At this, Onyx sprung to her feet.

"_I'm just never good enough for you, am I!"_ she snapped.

"Well, now, there's no need to be a sore loser," her father said. He still had that mocking tone of voice. Onyx gave her dad a look of pure hatred. Her hands balled into fists, and she seemed to be shaking with anger.

And then, something happened. The earth beneath Onyx shook. It started out small, but as her bitterness grew, the earthquake grew stronger. As her father took a step towards her, she dropped to her knees and created a shield around herself.

"_Leave me alone!" _she screeched. She sounded strange, as though the voice coming from her mouth wasn't her own. It cracked and was contorted with rage. She clutched her head, and the earthquake grew more violent. The wind started blowing harder and harder, and eventually it was howling.

It was insane. Anyone who tried to get close to Onyx was blown off their feet by either a Psi-blast or a tongue of fire. She seemed to be in a state of…semi-consciousness. She still had the shield around herself, but her eyes were closed, as though she couldn't feel the ground shaking or hear the wind howling.

And then the memory was over. Its image grew fainter and fainter, until the clearing was empty and silent, as though nothing had taken place there. Raz and Lili were silent as well, staring at the real Onyx.

"All those years, I had to put up with him," she said quietly, "No matter how hard I tried, he always had something snide to say. That day the dual took place, I guess I just…snapped."

"And that's your worst fear?" Raz asked, "Losing control of your powers again?" Onyx nodded.

"There aren't a lot of things more dangerous than a psychic who can't control themselves. Has it ever happened to you?" Raz and Lili shook their heads, "You're lucky. When it happened to me, I just felt so…helpless. Like, even if someone got hurt, I wouldn't have been able to stop it. After that day, everyone avoided me. No one even looked at me. It was like I wasn't there.

"And then the murderers came. And the last thing my dad said to me was, 'There's no need to be a sore loser.'." Onyx sighed again and just kept walking, with Raz and Lili following uncertainly.

The journey from then on was completely silent. The three still had to deal with the censors, but after a little while, they reached the end of the forest. Just ahead of them loomed the Galochio mansion, the place they had traveled so long to reach…

And…that's the end. Hoped you like this chapter. I'm pretty sure this story will go on for about five more chapters. More or less. Oh, and if anyone's confused, the Onyx that was fighting and freaking out, that was the _memory_ they were watching. The real Onyx was watching the memory with Raz and Lili. And just a random little piece of information: I think I meant for her to be a little older than Raz and Lili. Maybe about eleven or twelve…just in case anyone's interested. Review please. No flames, please.


	11. Locked In A Fiery Grip

Ah! Sorry, readers. I've been really busy, and I haven't had time to update in a while. I've had time to review, but that's it. And my stupid computer won't let me log in, so I don't know when this will show up.

Disclaimer: I own this story, but, um…I don't own anything in it…

Chapter Eleven: Locked in a Fiery Grip

The three kids stood, transfixed, staring up at the mansion that loomed before them. It seemed normal, but an oddly sinister air hung about it.

"Well…" Onyx said, breaking the silence, "…here we are."

"Good." Lili said, "The sooner we go in, the sooner we can get out of here." She took a step towards the house, then stopped. Lili took another look at the house then said, "Um…you go first, Raz." Raz walked on shaky legs towards the porch, Onyx and Lili following. Of all the things he had been through, he didn't understand why he was scared of this place.

"This forest is the darker part of my mind." Onyx said, as though reading his thoughts, "Memories I tried to lock away. There's a lot of negative psychic energy around here."

The three had been moving closer to the mansion as she said this. Before he knew it, Raz was standing right in front of the door. He took a deep breath, then pushed the door open.

It was very dark in there. Raz stepped through the door, looking around. It seemed as though no one had lived in the house for years. The furniture was covered in inch-thick dust, a chair had been knocked over, and although the grandfather clock in the corner of the room was still ticking, the hands had stopped moving. This appeared to be the entrance hall. There were two doorways opposite of each other, to the left and right of the front door. At the far end of the room, there was a wide, cobwebbed staircase. It was too dark to see what lay ay the top.

"So, where do we go from here?" Lili asked.

"I…don't know." Onyx said, "But there's something in here, something that will help us. I can feel it." Onyx moved forward, closer to the staircase. "Give me a minute." She said. Onyx closed her eyes, her fists clenched, as though trying to remember something. After a moment, her eyes opened, and her gaze moved to the top of the staircase.

"The library." She whispered, her voice barely audible. And, without waiting for Raz or Lili, she ran towards the stairs. Oddly, as they moved closer, Raz could see the top of the stairs more clearly, and the front door grew darker. As he continued to look, he noticed that the light seemed to be following Onyx as she moved. It was as though she were a human light bulb.

When they reached the top, Raz saw that the stairs sharply split in two different directions, leading into two different hallways. Without hesitation, Onyx turned right, Raz and Lili close behind. Like the rest of the house, the hallway was dark, decorated with a dusty red carpet on the floor, and various paintings lining the walls.

Onyx kept going until she reached the door at the end of the hallway. Without pausing, she wrenched open the door.

The library was colossal, probably bigger than the entrance hall. Everywhere you looked, there were books. Not only were there bookcases set into the walls, but there were rows and rows along the floor. In the center of the room was a cluster of velvet chairs, velvet sofas, and low oak tables.

"There's…something in this room." Onyx said, "But I don't know where."

"Wait, what's that noise?" Lili piped up. The three fell silent, and Raz could indeed hear something: hushed voices, coming from the center of the room. Raz, Lili and Onyx moved towards the source. Standing near the furniture were two girls. One Raz recognized as Onyx, although she looked considerably younger than she was now. Maybe about seven or eight years old. After looking at her for a moment, Raz recognized the other girl: Onyx's sister.

"Bella, why'd you bring me here?" Onyx asked.

"Because I wanted to teach you something." She replied, crouching slightly to reach Onyx's height. "It's just a little safety precaution."

"Precaution?" Onyx asked, cocking her head in a childish kind of way, "Against what?"

"Nevermind that. I just want to make sure you're safe. Now, pay attention. In case you're ever…stuck somewhere, you could easily blast your way out, right?"

"Right…?" Onyx said, a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Well, have you ever heard of mental bars?"

"No."

"They're bars that you can't break with your mind. They glow, so you'll know them if you see them. You can't break through them, but you _can _break the lock."

"The…lock…?" Onyx blinked, obviously not knowing what her sister was talking about.

"Yes. All mental bars have a lock. It's the source of its energy. Without it, the bars will just be normal bars, and you can blast through them. You can break the lock with a Fire Grip."

"What's that?"

"It's a combination of telekinesis and pyrokinesis. Basically, you set your TK hand on fire. If you ever find yourself stuck behind mental bars, find the lock and grab it with a Fire Grip. The fire and psychic energy should melt right through it. I'll teach it to you now."

"Okay. Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you want to teach me this?" Bella sighed.

"Just trust me on this one…" Just as before, the memory faded away.

"Of course!" Onyx—the _real_ Onyx—exclaimed. "A Fire Grip, that's what it was. It's been so long, I forgot."

"I wonder why she wanted to teach you that?" Raz wondered aloud. Onyx sighed, then said,

"My sister had something not many others in my family had. She sometimes had…visions. It first happened a few days before the forest fire. She didn't tell us about it before, but afterwards she couldn't keep quiet. She told my parents that, in her mind, she saw me, surrounded by flames. She didn't know what it meant then, but my parents did: my sister could see into the future. I guess, somehow, she knew I'd be in this situation. So she tried to prevent it."

"I guess…hey, what's that?" Lili pointed to something at the far end of the room. It was like…a small dark spot on the wall, near the ceiling. As the three watched, the spot seemed to be getting bigger. And bigger. And bigger…until it was like some kind of huge beast, not unlike the personal demon Raz had seen in his mind. But this thing didn't have eyes or teeth. It was almost like a vortex.

The air suddenly got colder, and it blew around the kids. As the wind grew stronger, Raz noticed some odd bolts of electricity coming from the vortex. It continued to grow, until it took up the entire wall and spread to the next ones. The winds started moving in one direction: towards the vortex, like it was trying to suck Raz, Lili and Onyx in. Lightning shot out of the hole, almost hitting Lili.

"We have to get out of here!" Raz yelled over the wind, which was now howling. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small, brown package. "Here, sniff the smelling salts." The three gathered around the smelling salts. Raz pulled open the package. It smelled horrible, but in a flash of light, the wind stopped, and they were standing back in the stables.

"That was close!" Lili said, sinking to the hay-lined floor. "What _was_ that, Onyx?"

"I…I don't know." Onyx stammered. "But maybe we'll get some answers if we break out of this stable." She moved over to the bars and looked at the lock. "Okay, let's see if I remember how to do this." Onyx put her fingers to her temples, focusing her energy. Nothing happened at first. But after a moment, an odd shape appeared in the air above them. It was a flaming hand…if a somewhat feeble one. The hand floated over to the lock and closed its fingers around it. The hand squeezed with all its strength, and sure enough, the flames melted through the lock. The blue glow around the bars faded, and the hand vanished. Onyx relaxed, looking a bit exhausted from the effort.

"Come on, we can't waste any more time!" Without waiting for a reply, Lili blasted through the doors and bolted out of the stall, Raz and Onyx following in numb surprise.

Ummm…yeah, that's the end. I sort of have an idea of what to write next, but it'll take me a little time to plan it out. Oh, and when I'm done with this, I think I'll write a Danny Phantom fic…you know, just 'cause I feel like it…

If you're reading this, Bit-Basketcase: Ha, ha! I've now read all seven Othellos! Just thought you'd like to know

Okay, I know I've said this before, but in case someone wasn't listening, I'll repeat it: NO flames, please.


	12. Trading Brains

Hello. Sorry I haven't been on in a while. I've been kinda busy lately. Plus my stupid computer isn't working again, so I don't know when this chapter will show up. Anyways…

Disclaimer: Just in case someone hasn't been paying attention, I do NOT own Psychonauts.

Chapter Twelve: Trading Brains

Raz and Onyx struggled to keep up with Lili as she rushed towards the stable exit. But when the door opened, even Lili had to stop and stare.

The three psychics were greeted by the sight of a colossal room just outside of the stable. There were machines everywhere, large and small. But the room was dark, and it seemed as if the machines hadn't been used in years, possibly decades. The only light leaked in through several small windows near the ceiling.

"What is this?" Lili whispered.

"It's almost like some kind of…" Raz didn't finish his sentence.

"…a factory?" Onyx finished for him.

"Yeah. Like some kind of…_meat_ factory." Raz said, without thinking. And then it dawned on him. "Wait a minute! Do you think this might be the factory I heard about in my vision?"

"It might be," Onyx said, "and if that's the case, your dad's somewhere around here, Lili." That did it. Lili broke into a run again, but Raz stopped her.

"Wait, Lili. We should save our energy. We don't know what we're up against yet."

"Fine." Lili pushed past Raz and kept moving. She didn't seem in the mood to talk.

The three kept moving, without a word. They really had no idea where they were going, or even where they were now. But it didn't matter. Raz and Onyx could see that Lili was dead set on finding her dad. It seemed like forever, but the three finally reached the other side of the room. There, they found a huge, rusty metal door that almost reached the ceiling. In the center of the door hung a faded sign. Onyx craned her neck upward to see it.

"_Freezer."_ she read, "Do you think we'll find anything in here?"

"It's worth a try." Raz took the handle and pulled as hard as he could. The door didn't budge. "Okay…how about we all use telekinesis on it?" The three backed a few feet away from the door and summoned their TK hands. They pulled as hard and as long as they could, but to no avail. The door remained shut. Onyx pressed her ear to the door and knocked lightly on it.

"The door seems pretty thin," she said, "and it's rusty. Maybe we could blast through it?" They stepped back again and blasted away. After a few good shots, a small hole opened up in the door, just big enough for them to walk through. Lili stepped towards the door, then looked over her shoulder at the other two.

"Ready?" she asked. Raz and Onyx took a deep breath, then said,

"Ready…"

The freezer was a lot bigger than the kids had expected. It wasn't quite as big as the main room, but it was still overwhelming. The floors were cold, frozen and slippery. The walls were covered in frost. There was no frozen meat in there. Most likely, there wasn't meat anywhere else in the factory either.

Raz looked around for a moment. And then his gaze fell on a small platform in the center of the room.

"Hey, look at that." He pointed. On the platform was a giant silver machine. It seemed newer and much more advanced than the ones in the other room. It also looked more lethal; it was covered with several menacing claws, hooks and levers. And standing in front of the machine was a figure, facing away from the kids. The three walked forward, closer to the platform. And then the person turned to face them. That person was none other than…

"_Adrian!"_ Raz called, moving closer to him.

"Ah," he said, "I was wondering when you would arrive."

"The jig is up, Adrian," Onyx said, "There's nowhere to run now."

"Who's running?" he said. "Certainly not me."

"_Where's my dad?"_ Lili snarled. Even Raz was taken aback by the venom in her voice. But Adrian seemed unfazed.

"He's…safe. For the time being. That's all you need to know. I trust you've found the gift I left you?"

"What gift?" Raz asked. He wasn't ready to attack Adrian just yet; first, Raz wanted some answers.

"Oh, come now. I know you've been in the girl's mind. I'm talking about the Void."

"_Void?"_ Onyx asked incredulously.

"Yes. You've seen it, then? It's a new invention of ours."

"But what is it?" Raz asked.

"Think of it as a…psychic tracking device. I planted it in Onyx's mind a few days ago, when she was asleep. There's one inside all of you, actually.

"But enough about that. It's time you three knew your place."

"It's three on one, Adrian." Onyx said. "Even if you're an elite, there's not much chance of beating us."

"I'm not afraid," Adrian said calmly, "because it isn't me you should be worried about. You see, our leader has a new invention," he gestured to the machine behind him, "and you three are going to be the first to test it." He stepped off of the platform, towards the three kids.

"Get ready." Raz said. He, Lili and Onyx formed a line, preparing for a fight. "On three. One…"

"…two…" Lili said.

"…_three!"_ Onyx hollered. The three psychics Psi-blasted Adrian at the same time. They tried every power they could think of, but Adrian continued moving closer. Every attack seemed to be bouncing off of him. It was as though he were protected by some kind of invisible force field.

When he got close enough, Adrian fired a colossal Psi-blast, bigger than anything the kids had seen before. It was like some kind of explosion. There was a blinding light, and Raz blacked out…

When he came to, Raz was staring up at the freezer ceiling. He tried to sit up, then groaned; his head was throbbing like mad. He waited for the pain to go away, then wobbled to his feet. He looked around and saw Onyx, unconscious. Raz kneeled down beside her and gently shook her arm.

"Onyx…" he started to say, then stopped. What was wrong with his voice? It sounded higher, more feminine than usual. Onyx stirred and opened her eyes slightly.

"You okay, Onyx?" Raz said. His voice sounded so strange…

"Onyx…?" she said, "What are you talking about? I'm Lili." And then her eyes opened fully, and she sat up, staring at Raz. She slid away from him, staring at him in shock.

"What…what are you?" she said, her eyes wide with fear.

"What are you talking about? You're not…" Raz stopped. Something wasn't right. He looked down at his hands. His normally bare hands now sported black, fingerless gloves. Then something fell in his face. He started to shake it off, then paused to touch it. It was brown hair, pulled into two pigtails. It was as though his hair had suddenly grown. He looked towards Onyx, who was still staring at him.

"You're…you're not Onyx, are you?" Slowly, she shook her head. Raz looked around and saw someone else lying on the ground near him. The person sat up, and looked at him. This person wasn't Lili. It was himself.

"What's going on?" Raz wondered aloud. He was staring at himself, slowly getting up from the ground. But it _couldn't_ be him. Raz looked down at his body. His Psychonauts uniform had been replaced by a checkered sweater and a pink skirt. No, it couldn't be…

The other Raz, the one he was staring at, was staring at Onyx in shock.

"What…the…hell…?" they murmured, "what is this?" The three looked around at each other.

"Okay, does anyone know what happened?" Raz said, in his oddly high voice. The other two didn't seem to be listening.

"How can you be me?" Onyx suddenly said, pointing at Raz, "I'm right here."

"What? I'm not you, I'm Raz." He said. The other Raz looked at his hands.

"And I'm not Raz," they said, "I'm Onyx."

"It's almost as if we've…no..." Onyx didn't finish her sentence.

"As if we've…" Raz trailed off.

"…switched bodies." The other Raz finished. And then there was a long silence…

Ummm…yeah. I hope no one was confused by the ending. I tried to make it as clear as possible, but it's still kind of vague. Basically, Raz is in Lili's body, Onyx is in Raz's body, and Lili is in Onyx's body. You'll find out what happened later. Oh, and I got out of school in a few days, so I'll have more time to write.

Here's my random little note for today: I recently started reading an anime series called Chobits. It's really cool. Anyway…review, please!


	13. Hidden Agenda

Hello, anyone who's reading this. I know it's been a while, but I'm still here, among the living. And now that my friend has caught up with the story, I can write more. But that's not the only reason I haven't continued. I've just been lazy lately, plus it just kept slipping my mind to update.

Oraman Asturi: Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe I'll use some of them in later chapters…if that's okay with you. And no, sadly I don't work for Psychonauts. I'm only thirteen…anyway, on with the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psychonauts, and I never will. goes off to cry in a corner

Chapter 13: Hidden Agenda

For a long while, nobody spoke. The three psychics simply stared at each other, speechless. Finally, Onyx (I'm just going to address them by their brains, not the bodies they're in.) broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Well, ah…what should we do now? We can't just stand here forever." Lili sighed, as though she had been holding her breath.

"Okay, first thing's first. We should…" Raz paused to shake his hair out of his face, "…we should find out where Adrian and Ivy went."

"And why they had our brains switched." Lili added, "But how are we supposed to do _that?_"

"Well, if this factory is their headquarters," Onyx said slowly, as if forming an idea in her head, "maybe there's something in here that can tell us what's going on."

"Like…a computer, maybe?" Raz asked.

"That's what I'm thinking. After all, every organization needs somewhere to keep their information, right?"

"But we don't _know_ that this place is their headquarters." Lili interrupted. "All we've seen here is an old meat factory with only one new machine."

"I know," Raz said, "but it's the only plan we've got. And if we want to find this said computer, we'd better start looking…"

Easier said than done. As the three quickly found out, the factory was much bigger than they had expected. So big, in fact, that the kids decided to split up and meet back in the main room later.

Raz searched the entire east wing of the factory, only to find nothing more than several gruesome-looking grinding machines, covered in what Raz was quite sure was dried blood. After what seemed like hours (and it probably was), he returned to the main room, sullen and empty-handed. Onyx and Lili were already there when he arrived, talking quietly amongst themselves.

"I couldn't find anything." Raz said, the disappointment clear in his (still very high) voice. "What about you?"

"I couldn't find anything either," Onyx reported, "but Lili might be on to something." She jerked her head in Lili's direction.

"I'm not sure, but I found this big silver door in the west wing." Lili said. "It looked new, like it was built after the factory was. I didn't even need to try blasting through it, the doors were way too thick. And it was locked."

"Locked, huh?" Immediately, Raz's mood brightened. "Could you show me where it is?" Lili turned and ran towards the west wing, beckoning for the other two to follow.

After a little while, she stopped. The door loomed a few feet ahead of them. Sure enough, Raz saw, the handles were wrapped with a thick silver chain, with a padlock to match. He grinned.

"Now this I can handle." Raz stepped up to the door, then turned to look at Onyx and Lili. "Has anyone got a hair pin?" Onyx shook her head, but Lili nodded.

"Check your glove." Raz looked down and found several pins slid onto his glove. After wondering briefly why he hadn't noticed them before, Raz pulled one off and stuck it into the padlock. After a few moments of wiggling it around, the lock gave a satisfying click and dropped to the floor. Raz turned to see Lili and Onyx staring at him.

"Where'd you learn to do _that?_" Onyx finally asked

"You pick up a few tricks when you live at the circus." Raz said, shrugging. "Anyway, the door's open now. We can go right in." And with that, he grabbed the handle and pulled. The door slid open without making a sound.

But there was more in store for the three kids. As they stepped through the door, they were greeted by a large, white tiled room. Raz was vaguely reminded of the old insane asylum he'd gone into during his stay at camp. On the other side of the room was another door. Raz started walking towards it, but Onyx stopped him.

"Wait a minute," she said, "this is weird. Why would Adrian and Ivy have built a big empty room here?" Lili shrugged.

"Maybe they're not done building it yet." She said. "But you're right. This is…_ow!_" Lili gave a cry of pain and clutched her arm.

"What? What is it?" Raz asked, alarmed.

"I don't know. Something just burned me." A large, angry red burn mark began to form on Lili's upper arm.

"I _thought_ this was weird." Onyx said. "But what's…" she stopped when her gaze fell on a small, colorful patch on the wall next to them.

"What's that?" Raz asked, stepping towards it.

"It looks like a…control panel." Lili said, still rubbing her arm. "But what's it for?" Raz moved closer to the panel. Of all the buttons on it, one large, blue one stood out the most.

"This button's labeled 'De-cloak'. What does that mean?"

"Only one way to find out," Onyx said, "but I'm not sure we should go messing with it."

"I think we should." Lili put in, "It's the only lead we have."

"Are you sure?" Raz asked. Lili nodded, and after a moment's hesitation, Onyx did the same. "Okay, here we go." Slowly, Raz reached for the button and pressed it.

The moment the button popped back up, several red beams of light appeared around the room. Some began moving up and down, forwards and backwards, some stayed in place along the floor and walls.

"I knew this was too convenient." Onyx muttered, "This isn't just a big empty room. It's a security system."

"These lasers must have been what burned you." Raz told Lili. After studying the lasers for a moment, he added, "They don't seem to be moving over here. We'll be okay as long as we stay on this side of the room."

"But we have to get to the door on the other side." Lili argued. "Is there some way we can turn them off?" At the same time, all three heads turned towards the control panel. Just above the de-cloak button was an assortment of numbers and symbols.

"Hey, there's numbers on it," Raz noticed, "maybe there's some code we have to enter."

"Well, unless we know what that code is, we're not going anywhere." Lili said. Raz sighed.

"Okay, then I guess we're screwed." He said. Onyx stepped forward, her eyes roving over the lasers.

"Maybe not." She said quietly, more to herself than anyone else. "I'm thinking one of us could get through these lasers without getting burned. Someone really flexible, able to anticipate their movements." She turned to Raz and Lili, an odd smile on her face. "Someone like…an acrobat, maybe?"

Raz grinned.

"Now that, I can do." He stepped towards the red lights when Lili muttered,

"Good luck doing that in a skirt." That stopped him cold.

"_Crud._" He groaned, "I forgot about that." He turned to Onyx and said, "You have to do it, then." Onyx blinked.

"_Me?"_ she asked, "_Why?"_

"I don't know if I'm up for it. Here, watch." He tried to bend backwards, then straightened back up. "_Ouch."_ He grunted, "See? I'm not as flexible in this body."

Onyx sighed. "Fine," she said, "but if I'm burned to death, I'm blaming you." She moved to the edge to the lasers, took a deep breath, and stepped in.

Locking her arms at her sides, she moved across the floor, in and out of the lasers. One of them moved upwards and grazed her left ear. She winced in pain but kept moving. Two lights, one above the other, barred her from going any further. She sighed, crouched down, and squeezed through the space between them, receiving a few small burns along the way. Then, several lasers moved toward her at the same time. Moving slowly and carefully, she weaved her way through them. After several long, agonizing minutes, she reached the other side. Shaking slightly, Onyx moved to the door and slid it open. When it opened, the lasers vanished. Lili stepped forward cautiously and waved her arm through the empty air. When nothing happened, she ran across the room, Raz just behind her. The three of them stepped through the door and were greeted by the sight of a large, dimly-lit blue room. All around the walls were glowing, beeping computer screens.

"Well, here we are," Raz said, "the computer room…"

The three psychics spent the next few moments taking in the sight. For a long time, the only sound was the beeping of the computers.

"Hey, look." Onyx said, pointing to the far end of the room. "What are those?" She was pointing at three vertical, tube-shaped machines, each big enough for a person to fit inside.

"I'm not sure," Raz said, "But we should focus on finding out what's going on. Which computer should we search first?"

"We should split up," Lili suggested, "It would go faster that way." The other two nodded, and all three of them headed for a different computer.

Raz scanned the screen for information, clicking on random icons. He went from icon to icon, screen to screen, until his eyes fell on something interesting: a small icon shaped like a book. He clicked on it, and the screen turned white, and a bunch of words appeared on it.

"Hey, guys, I think I found something." He called. Onyx and Lili stopped what they were doing and gathered around the computer. Together, they read the page's title aloud:

"_The Diary of Lydia C. Thorn."_

After a moment, something seemed to click in Lili's mind.

"Wait a second," she said, "I know that name."

"Really?" Onyx asked, raising an eyebrow, "I haven't."

"Who's Lydia C. Thorn?" Raz wondered aloud.

"My dad told me about her once," Lili replied, "She used to be a Psychonaut. She was really good, too. She was always thinking of new inventions for the Psychonauts to use.

"But she had this weird obsession with mind control." Lili continued, "And a few years ago, the Psychonauts found out that Lydia was performing illegal experiments on two other agents."

"Adrian and Ivy." Raz and Onyx said at the same time.

"Well, he never told me their names, but it probably was. Anyway, the other two claimed that they didn't realize what Lydia was doing, so they were allowed to stay. But Lydia was banned from the Psychonauts."

"Hey, that's right," Raz suddenly remembered, "I think I read something about that in _True Psychic Tales_ Magazine. Do you think Lydia is the boss Adrian and Ivy kept talking about?"

"Maybe," Onyx said, "but this diary should give us a good idea of what's going on." Raz leaned forward and began to read the first entry out loud:

"_April the 9th_

_I have been living in solitude for the past two years. And now Adrian and Ivy have returned to me. They say they wish to help clear my name. All I wanted was to prove to the Psychonauts that mind control can be a very effective tool to their work. But those fools are far too closed-minded to see a good opportunity, even when it's staring them in the face._

_However, I was able to perform my experiments long enough to make an amazing discovery: When the brain is in an unfamiliar environment, it becomes sharper, and thus, more powerful. Psychics everywhere could use this information to increase their mental abilities…"_

"Wait," Onyx interrupted, "I just thought of something. You remember when we tried fighting Adrian, but all our attacks bounced off of him? And then he fired that huge Psi-blast. I've never seen anything like that. What if that wasn't Adrian we were talking to, but Ivy in Adrian's body?"

"Woah, you're right," Raz said, "and if our brains were switched too, that means we should have the same powers." Without waiting for a response, Raz headed back into the security room, Onyx and Lili following in curiosity. Raz stood at the far end of the room, facing the opposite wall. He put his fingers to his temples and concentrated. His mental energy seemed to be building up, and after a few moments, he fired a Psi-blast. Just like Adrian's, this blast was huge. There was a nearly blinding light, and a noise like thunder sounded. This Psi-blast left an enormous crater where it had hit the wall.

"I guess Lydia was right." Raz murmured.

"But why would she have our brains switched if it just made us stronger?" Onyx asked. Lili shrugged.

"Adrian said we were the first ones to test out the machines. Maybe we were just guinea pigs. And Lydia probably isn't expecting us to get out of here."

"Anyway, we should keep reading the diary." Raz pointed out. The three of them headed back into the computer room, and Raz continued to read the entries:

"_April the 20th _

_Now that I am well-practiced in switching brains manually, I have decided to build a machine that will do it for me. I have yet to find a test subject though; I don't want to mess with Adrian and Ivy's brains too much. Those Psychonauts will pay for the indignity they caused me…"_

"_April the 26th_

_Adrian and Ivy have seen my anger towards the Psychonauts, and they have a proposition for me: to form a resistance against the Psychonauts, and rise up against them. After all, those fools are far too weak to defend the world. I have agreed, but we'll need to recruit more members if we are to succeed."_

"_May the 2nd_

_Adrian and Ivy have gone to recruit more psychics for our resistance. I was surprised to find that there are many of them around the country that are not Psychonauts.We are finding new members each day. To pass time, I am currently working on some teleporters, to make traveling easier."_

"Teleporters?" Lili asked, "Is that what those things are?" She jerked her thumb towards the tube-like machines.

"Probably." Raz said, "And they might be our ticket out of here. Maybe the diary will tell us were Adrian, Ivy and Lydia went." He turned back to the screen:

"_May the 10th _

_The teleporters are complete, but my plan has suffered a major setback. Adrian and Ivy attempted to recruit some of the Galochios, who I thought would prove to be valuable allies. But they refused, and now they are threatening to tell the Psychonauts about our plan. I need to think of something to do, and fast."_

"_May the 13th_

_The problem is solved, but I'm not very happy about it. I have ordered that all the Galochios be killed, in case the word has trickled to some of the relatives. Young and old, they're all dead now. I am worried that their deaths will draw attention to us, but it was the only way. _

_In any case, I have been working nonstop on my latest invention. It may prove to be the undoing of the Psychonauts once and for all. I just need to finish it before the agents try to track me down."_

"_May the 14th_

_My machine is nearing completion. It is now time to launch our first attack on the Psychonauts. I have decided to do this myself, as I have a score to settle with Truman Zanotto. After all, it was he who found out about my experiments, he who sold me out to the Psychonauts, and now he is their leader. It's time to put a stop to this."_

"_May the 16th_

_I have successfully kidnapped Truman Zanotto. We are hiding him at our current headquarters. I won't kill him yet. We may be able to probe his mind, find out what the Psychonauts' weaknesses are._

_But I have received some bad news. It seems that one of the Galochios managed to survive the attack, a girl by the name of Onyx. She has told the Psychonauts of her families' murder, and she may prove to be a problem. I must decide what to do about her."_

_May the 23rd_

_It seems that the girl saved me the trouble of capturing her. She and two other children were snooping around where they shouldn't have, and now they are within my grasp. Ivy, who was in Adrian's body at the time, has used the three of them to test out my brain-switcher, and I am pleased to say that it functions perfectly._

_And now, my ultimate invention, my masterpiece, is complete. But it needs fuel. I'll need to gather a large amount of Psitanium for it to work properly._

_May the 23rd_

_Adrian and Ivy have managed to track down a sufficient supply of Psitanium for my machine. I am leaving soon to help gather it. It seems that there is an enormous underground deposit of the mineral, in the province of…"_

Raz didn't finish the sentence.

"What? Where is it?" Onyx asked. Raz's head swiveled in the direction of Onyx and Lili, and he grinned.

"Guys," he said, still smiling, "I think it's time we paid a visit to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp!"

Umm…and that's the end. I'd like to apologize for taking such a long time to update. I'm also running out of ideas again. If anyone's got some ideas, I'd like to hear them. Review, please!


End file.
